Audio driven synchronized light display

Abstract

Disclosed is a light display comprised of a light display unit containing 24 LEDs of various colors, a USB connector connecting the light display unit to a computer, and light display custom software that is loaded onto the computer. When the computer plays music audio such as a WAV file, MP3 file, or a CD disk, the light display custom software, installed on the computer, transforms the audio output into a four 8-bit byte record 40 times a second. The first byte is a header record, and the remaining 3 bytes contain 24 instruction bits. The instruction bits are calculated using a programmed spectrum analyzer that filter the sampled audio signal over a range of 20 Hz to 20K Hz. When the frequencies within a given band exceeds a threshold, the bit associated with that band is set to 1, otherwise the bit is set to 0. The light display unit contains a circuit board that turns the LED associated with the bit on if the bit is one, otherwise it is turned off.

1. An system for displaying LED lights synchronized with media player audio output comprising:
 24 LEDs; 
 custom software, that when installed on a host computer, being capable of transforming media player audio output sampled 40 times a second, wherein each sample being transformed into a four 8-bit byte record, the first byte indicating that the next three bytes are instructions to the LEDs, each bit in the last three bytes being assigned to a distinct LED; 
 a means for turning each LED on if the bit assigned to the LED is 1 and turning it off otherwise. 
 
     
     
       2. The system of  claim 1  further comprising a circuit board hosting the LEDs and additionally further comprising circuitry that for each four 8-bit byte record received, turns each LED on if the bit assigned to the LED is has value 1, otherwise turning it off. 
     
     
       3. The system of  claim 1  further comprising a digital frequency analyzer implemented in the custom software wherein the digital frequency analyzer partitions the frequency analyzer processing into 28 frequency bands over the range 20 Hz to 20K Hz, and additionally assigns 24 or the 28 bands to the 24 LEDs, each band assigned to a distinct LED, assigns each bit in the last 3 bytes to a distinct LED, and assigning the value of the bit to 1 if the power in the band determined from a sample of the output of a media player is above a threshold, and 0 otherwise. 
     
     
       4. The circuit board of  claim 2  further comprising a PXC18F4550 8 Bit Microprocessor. 
     
     
       5. The circuit board of  claim 2  being installed on a desktop display that is customized with indicia representing a particular theme such as a heart indicating Valentines' day or a flag indicating patriotism. 
     
     
       6. The method of displaying a light show synchronized with audio output comprising:
 sampling audio output 40 times a second; 
 applying a digital frequency analyzer with a range of 20 Hz to 20K Hz and partitioning the range into 28 frequency bands, applying the frequency analyzer to each audio sample, and calculating power levels of the sampled audio associated with each of the bands; 
 selecting 24 of the 28 bands, assigning to each of the selected bands a threshold and assigning a 1 to the band if the power level of the output associated with the band lies above the threshold and 0 otherwise when the frequency analyzer processes a sample of the audio; 
 transforming the bits outputted by each band of the 24 selected bands to a four 8-bit byte record, wherein the first bye indicates that the next three bytes are instructions, and each bit in the next three bytes being an indicator whether to turn an LED on or off; 
 transmitting the four 8-bit bytes to a circuit board on a desktop display, the circuit board turning on each of 24 LEDs mounted on the circuit board if the bit assigned to the LED is 1 and turning the LED off otherwise. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6  wherein the circuit board is mounted on a desktop display.